Heene House, West Tarring, Worthing

Several members of the Lucas family have had a connection to Heene, in West Tarring, Worthing, Sussex.  It seems to have been a property owned by a Lucas, and used over the years by a number of people shown by the mentions in various documents.   I’m not quite sure of the history of it so will use this as an area to keep track of mentions and try to sort it out.

1823 Pigot’s Directory (Worthing) [This site has been removed]

1840 Pigot’s Directory (Worthing)

Both of these directories list a James Lucas, Esq., of Heene Street.  Note that it is James Lucas, and not his uncle, John Lucas.

I think it was John Lucas (1775-1852) who first purchased the property.  In his will he describes himself as “of Upper Tooting in the County of Surrey and of Worthing in the County of Sussex”.  In 1851 he is aged 75 and at Heene along with three of the children of his brother James Lucas, James, Maria, and Mary Ann, several servants and a nurse, so probably he was ill at the time.

Another of his nephews, Joseph Lucas (1811-1903) who subsequently lived the bulk of his life in Upper Tooting, kept that connection with Heene.

Heene House

The original Heene House is no longer standing.   Apparently there is a watercolour of it painted about 1840 by Henrietta P. Bourne at the Worthing Museum and Art Gallery

It is also mentioned in a parish history of Heene on page 13.  The house was subsequently used as a school called Heene Academy, or the Holt School.

In 1854 renovations to the parish church of West Tarring were completed under the supervision of architect Joseph Peacock of Bloomsbury Square, another nephew of John Lucas.   There is a description of the renovations, the re-opening of the church, and a dedication of a window to John Lucas in Gentleman’s Magazine, June 1854 page 517-518.   John Lucas died in 1852, so may have been active in supporting the renovations of the church before he died.

[For further information research on Heene House and Heene I could try contacting Barrie Keech, who is a local genealogist in the area and the transcriber of the Pigot’s Directories.  http://www.barriesgenealogy.co.uk/index.html